The Story of the DpC Methodology
The Dialogue for peaceful Change (DpC) Methodology roots are in the resurgence of historic sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. Its early development was heavily influenced by the experiences of the Corrymeela Community, Northern Ireland’s oldest and largest peace and reconciliation organisation.
At that time, no formal methodologies or academic courses existed for peacebuilding and conflict management, and Corrymeela's work evolved through trial and error. Despite many challenges, a methodical approach to peacebuilding gradually emerged.
As Northern Ireland grappled with internal conflict, there was growing international interest in developing effective peacebuilding skills. At this time, Colin Craig, co-founder of DpC, was the Centre and Programme Director for Corrymeela. At the same time, Jaap van der Sar, the other co-founder of DpC, was working on interfaith dialogue initiatives as a Director with Stichting Oikos in the Netherlands. In 2000, Jaap organised an international workshop that led to a collaboration between Jaap and Colin, which resulted in the birth of the DpC Methodology. To support this development, Colin and Jaap founded a company, Different Tracks Global to carry the organisational responsibility for overseeing the future evolution of DpC.
From the beginning, the DpC founders aimed to create a framework that was both conceptually robust and practically applicable in navigating conflict and change. They emphasised the importance of continuously enhancing their mediative and empathic communication skills.
Since its creation in 2004, nearly 2000 people from all over the world have completed the DpC Training of Facilitators programme. Today, a network of Accredited Trainers and Coaches supports various community and organisational initiatives aimed at addressing inter-community division and violence using the DpC Methodology.
These efforts have ranged from combating gang violence in Antioch, California to training local mediators in Sweden to address community division and social cohesion. Over the years, the DpC Methodology has been integrated into local governments, international aid organizations, universities, and various faith and justice groups, and it has been adopted by practitioners working in Israel/Palestine, Ghana, Zimbabwe, the Philippines, Northern Ireland and the United States.
In March 2022, DpC’s co-founder Jaap van der Sar passed away. His legacy of generosity, compassion and thoughtfulness lives on in the evolution of this body of work. With this tragic loss, and the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, it was decided to close Different Tracks Global, the business that had housed the method and discern how DpC should best evolve.
Coming out of the pandemic, and responding to the growing demand for this work, the decision was made to reimagine and revitalize the organisational support for the method. In 2024, DpC Global was formed to serve the future sustainability of the DpC methodolody with a commitment to cultivate the existent and growing community of DpC practitioners as well as to oversee future method development. Onwards the story goes!